Tuesday, January 4, 2011

So I know it's been forever...I Know! But that doesn't mean I haven't been doing stuff! I have a couple of projects that I'm excited to share. So this first project is my kids bathroom. When we first moved in, I had 3 little girls, and thought pink and brown would be fun! And for three little girls, it was. Everything in this bathroom is pretty neutral, just brought in the colors with towels etc. And fyi...this bathroom is SO HARD to get good pictures of! Believe me...I've tried LOTS! anyhoo...2 years ago when my little boy was born, I knew the decor in the bathroom would have to change...cause I couldn't have a little boy using a pink bathroom.

I knew I didn't have to be in a huge hurry to change it, as
1. he wouldn't actually be using it anytime soon, and,
2.he wouldn't actually be using it anytime soon.
but what can I say...No, he is still not using it...other than for baths, but I'll take any excuse to redecorate!

I love wall treatments...well wood wall treatments, and so I decided to try something I had never attempted before.

I painted the upper 1/3 of the wall an aqua-y blue, and then used 6 inch pine boards. At first I thought I could evenly space them and that they would be straight (as I got the straightest ones I could find) but wood is not straight...so I did my best.

break for cute baby...this was on Halloween...he's enjoying his candy...can't you tell?

anyway, moving on...I nailed the boards as close together as I could, and did this wall, and the little wall behind the toilet this picture below shows my three towel hooks that had to be installed before the top board was on...that's why I painted that part first...didn't want to have to try and paint around those babies. As a side note if I did this again, I would not use attach from behind hooks, as I can never add more, or really even change these ones out without completely tearing this down.

here is a close up of the corner, after paint and trim were added, I also used a 6 inch piece of pine to top off the boards, then used a simple door casing to pretty it up, and the picture ledge on top was the smallest, straightest, cheapest baseboard I could find.

then I decided with all this white, why not add more, and frame out the mirror! SOOOO, I did!
I followed a tutorial I found here, and it was EASY! I will definitely do this again! I'll spare you all the details, but if you are thinking about doing this, check out Shelley's blog! I think it cost about $15 in supplies to frame out the mirror!

So after mirror was framed and everything was painted, I added some new towels ( cause towels are definitely one of my favorite ways to decorate a bathroom, bought a new shower curtain, and wa-la...a more gender neutral bathroom:

that we love!

bottom line, It is a really fun space, it's light and fresh, the colors in there really pop, and, I pretty much did this all. by.myself. I really like it...I still need a couple more small accessories, then it will be good.

On another note though...not sure I would do it again...I mean I like it, but I figure for the wood alone, it cost about $100, and I think I could have achieved a similar look and feel with bead board, I'm still happy with it, and I wanted to try it. So I'm glad I decided to try it in a little room, cause sometimes my ideas are cheaper in my head than in real life.

Hey, I don't want to rain on your parade, but little boys are NOT like little girls. Little girls are mainly contained. A few dribbles on the seat is all you have to worry about. Little boys, no. Even when they're trying to aim, they somehow get "it" on the walls and any adjacent vertical surfaces. My boys came first. They're now 10.5 and 9. I'm still wiping pee.